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Chester County Press

Two candidates squaring off for seat on U-CF School Board

10/23/2013 03:40PM ● By Acl

By John Chambless

Staff Writer

The two candidates vying for a seat on the Unionville-Chadds Ford School Board are not facing off in a forum, so current board member Leticia Flores DeWilde took her side of the issues to voters at two public meetings held on Oct. 22.

She and endorsed Republican candidate Carolyn Daniels of Chadds Ford are seeking the seat vacated by Frank Murphy in Region C, which includes Pennsbury and Chadds Ford. Murphy resigned his position on the board in June. DeWilde has been filling in for Murphy on the board since July.

In a letter sent to regional media two weeks ago, DeWilde wrote that her opponent had "declined to participate" in a League of Women Voters Meet the Candidates Night.

DeWilde says she is the only current school board member who is a parent of elementary students. She wants to give back to the United States public school system since she immigrated from Mexico as a young child and grew up to graduate from Brown University and the University of Pennsylvania Law School. She has worked as an attorney and policy analyst.  If elected, she says she will advocate on behalf of all community members, maintain the high quality of the district's schools, bring legal and policy expertise to the board, and promote a balanced approach to financial deliberations.

Carolyn Daniels, who got the endorsement of the Chadds Ford Republican Party in September, graduated from the University of Delaware. She has worked in corporate communications for Dun and Bradstreet and Dean Witter, and in corporarate financial services business development with Wilmington Trust. She and her husband have four children - three sons at Unionville High School, and a daughter, who is attending Catholic University inf Washington, D.C. She has volunteered in the district for 15 years, and is in her fourth year on the Unionville-Chadds Ford curriculum council and   her second year as the vice-president of the Unionville High School PTO. She has lived in Chadds Ford for 20 years.

She says she hopes to "maintain the excellent education that our district schools are known for while being mindful of residents' resources when making the decisions that best serve the needs of the students and the community."

In Region A of the district, incumbent school board members Jeff Hellrung and Keith Knauss are seeking re-election to their positions for four-year terms. They are running unopposed.

Election Day is Nov. 5.